First the bad news: there are more ways to get ripped off when buying and selling over the internet than ever before. The good news is that with a little common sense, most are avoidable.

The great playground of the modern fraud artist has been Ebay, GlobalSource, Made in China and Alibaba. Fueled by greed, buyers have been lured into lowball auctions on high end items. With their savings sent overseas via Western Union, buyers waited patiently on their doorsteps, fake UPS tracking numbers in hand, never to have that expensive new toy arrive. Although Ebay has been cracking down efficiently, Alibaba has made also no effort on this part. At the end of the day it is still a buyer beware world out there. While there are many other sites out there, the following red flags should apply to any purchase you make.

High end items at low dollar prices: Sure, we are all greedy, and we want as much money for our stuff as possible. This applies to sellers as well as everyone else. When you see someone selling a brand new video camera for half the price of other, you need to ask yourself why. It doesn't cost him anything to raise the price, so why should he want to sell it for less? It's common sense, yet we are often blinded by the opportunity to snag a deal that we can all brag to our friends about. You need to remember one time tested saying: "If it is too good to be true, it probably is."

Look for them hawking brand new items at ridiculous discounts. High end electronics, video cameras, still cameras, mobile phones, and laptops are always popular items.

Slow/Zero feedback: It's only the bargain if what you buy actually shows up. Unless you can pay in person, or have someone local make payment on your behalf and pick and inspect the goods, don't bother with zero and slow feedback sellers. If they are slow to reply before you buy they will be even slower or disappear completely after you buy. As the old cliche goes, "time is money".

Seller's Location: Would you seriously buy a Rolex from China for any price, and think it's real? Would you really wire money to Croatia for a new video Ipod at a quarter of the price?

Here's the truth. If these people had legitimate items to sell, they'd be selling them over there. They are trying to get your overseas money because they know there is absolutely nothing you can do to get it back once they've got it. Even if you get scammed out of $10,000 are you really going to track down some scumbag in the middle of China?

Not all foreign sellers are rip-offs, but the further out you go geographically, the higher your risk gets.

Seller's Industry: Would you seriously buy a Laptop from a company registered as ABC Textile Trading Co. Ltd at any price price, and think it's real? Use your common sense.

Anyone Traveling: If you ever read anything like "I'm from the Shanghai but currently traveling in Hong Kong," forget it immediately. It is almost always trouble. Scammers use traveling as an excuse as to why they haven't been able to ship you your package three months after you have paid. They'll keep you on the hook as long as possible to keep you from going to the authorities, and then they'll eventually disappear.

Escrow: Escrow used to be the safety net you could rely on. Then crooks began setting up fake escrow services and continued on stealing as happily as before.

Here's reality. Real sellers don't use escrow. They take your money up front. Then they ship you the package. That's the way it's done. They have the goods so they make the rules. If you want to use escrow and they agree to it, beware!!

Breaking The Rules: Watch out for anyone who offers to break the rules for you when there is nothing in it for them. Unless they are the boss or you are a large client someone who can move production time forward for you or reduce the price from $10 to $5 is someone who is agreeing to give up money. No one gives up money. Anyone who approaches you outside the system is instantly suspect. If they were legit, they'd be selling legitimately.

Add anything that I may have missed to this.